It is a mission to go down to Deptford and trawl painstakingly through piles of tat which let’s face it are dead person’s bric a brac.

However.

If you can’t find what you want anywhere else it will probably be at Deptford. It is a reliable resource in one’s little black book for sourcing anything weird from black and white holiday photos to birdbaths. And yesterday I went there to find a drill because a decent, new one would have cost a bomb. So, I thought I could find a good second hand option and I did- a good Dewalt cordless!

Here is a list of all the things I have ever bought at Deptford Market.

A drill

A keepsakes book from 1930

A Satchel

A first aid handbook

Some ageing sheet music

A magnifying glass

A knickerbocker glory glass

1 pair of boots

A picnic basket

An old tennis racquet plus stretcher

A snow white snowglobe

A joblot of photoframes.

…I can’t recall anything else. But there’s definitely been some bigger things because I remember struggling back from there arms laden.

Firstly, I do not believe that because something’s old it’s vintage. Obviously, when I heard about buying vintage clothes by the weight, I wanted to go because it sounded too good to be true. And I think it was because I was tired and grumpy/ it was trying to snow but not succeeding and my phone was slowly giving up the ghost but I really couldn’t hack it.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a rummage. But the huge vats of clothes that were dotted around this warehouse space really scared me. They were mostly dead people clothes from the 90s and a lot of crochet- when you pulled out a sleeve of a trouser leg it had always knotted itself around a pair of tights or a Tesco bag. I had the distinct guttural reaction against the idea of wearing the clothes because it made my skin crawl. But that’s ok, I only paid a pound to get in so I cut my losses and trotted off to work.

Still, I would recommend it if you happened to be costume sourcing because it was cheap and to some extent eclectic.

My flatmate told me about the Traid sales a while back. I sort of turned my nose up at them because she only wears black and I only wear colour so I became of the impression they just sold a variety of 90s black knitwear. I was wrong. I have been into two Traid stores this week, Dalston High Street and Wood Green High Street and I came away with purchases in both.

The Dalston branch needless to say … was more chic, full of hipsters and really organised (bizarrely) Which was refreshing, as I had already rolled up my sleeves ready for the rummage somewhat needlessly. Everything was 3 quid with the exception of coats and dresses which in both stores were 4 and 6 pounds. There was also an interesting range of ethnic clothes mostly African, some saris and I even tried on a floor length Chinese number. I thought about buying some African clothes so I could use the fabric but instead I bought useful, high heeled, black lace up boots, which I wore out on saturday and they didn’t even give me blisters.

The Wood Green branch was a nightmare to rummage through and was full of people. Despite this everything was £2 and I bought a purple, sparkly, cropped, polo neck, so it was worth the effort.

N.B Watch out for Newlook and Primark shoes- they are abundant and no one should have to buy them second hand.

I was casually christmas shopping in Camden’s “Rockit Vintage” and out of the corner of my eye I saw a tamogotchi- well understandably- I had to have it. (sod buying other people presents, it was only 4 quid and brings me limitless happiness) It was bright pink and sparkly and came with a little green plectrum. I used to have a Red one called Dino… he died weekly. Now I have a this one called Lilli (the name was already on it) who is presently starving because I can’t remember how to work the tamagotchi operating system.

I have been working on a show of late… which has absorbed all of my weekends and the wrap party was last night… so now I have my life back at least up until christmas. The theme of the party was 1940s starlet and I was in a conundrum because ever since my flatmate’s cat (and it’s fleas) took a fancy to my wardrobe I have started keeping my vintage dresses at my mum’s to avoid dry cleaning bills. Which makes spontaneous dressing up a bit problematic. I had an LBD (negligee type thing) but I wanted to look of the era and it was effectively a nightie… so in my lunch break I popped down to “Frockney Rebel”. It’s an attractive vintage shop that I have often wanted to browse when I have passed it on the bus partly because of it’s tongue in cheek name.

This was power shopping! On a time limit, a budget and with quite a specific brief.

Ten minutes and £18 later it delivered… and I was saved by a super slinky white pencil skirt, which I thought looked pretty hot even if I do say so myself.

Not a lot of stock but that can be a blessing at times and the staff are happy-go-lucky.